1. THE SOVIET UNION FROM STALIN TO KHRUSHCHEV
Soviet Union makes rapid recovery after the war
Emphasis on industrial production and export goods
Soviets workers
1. low pay
2. poor housing
3. few consumer goods

2. STALIN’S POLICIES Removed all opposition to his rule
Undisputed master of the USSR
In 1946 an anti-intellectual campaign = all literary and scientific work must conform to Stalinism
“the Doctor’s Plot” – beginnings of a new Stalinist purge in 1953
Stalin dies in March 1953

3. NIKITA SERGEYEVICH KHRUSHCHEV
Terror+

4. NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV Becomes leader of USSR after death of Stalin
Begins policy of de-Stalinization = “The Thaw”
Speech to the Twentieth Party Congress – Khrushchev denounces the crimes of Stalin
Limited degree of intellectual freedom is allow – ex. ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF IVAN DENISOVICH by Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Reduces the power of the secret police and closes some of the Siberian prison camps
Uprising in Hungary causes a limiting of the de-Stalinization campaign

5. KHRUSHCHEV’S ECONOMIC POLICIES
Attempt at more emphasis on light industry and consumer goods
Attempt to increase ag. Production east of the Urals  fails
Increased military spending
Beginning of long continuous decline in the industrial growth rate
“Virgin Lands” propaganda poster

6. THE DOWNFALL OF KHRUSHCHEV
Clownish and obnoxious personality make him unpopular with party leaders
Attempts to limit privileges of higher party bureaucracy  unpopular
Failure of agricultural policies
Soviet defeat/embarrassment in Cuban Missile Crisis
Khrushchev is voted out by the Politburo and forced into retirement in 1964

7. Leonid Brezhnev replaces Khrushchev as leader of the Soviet Union
Khrushchev put up little resistance, and that night called his friend and Presidium colleague Anastas Mikoyan, and told him,
“I'm old and tired. Let them cope by themselves. I've done the main thing. Could anyone have dreamed of telling Stalin that he didn't suit us anymore and suggesting he retire? Not even a wet spot would have remained where we had been standing. Now everything is different. The fear is gone, and we can talk as equals. That's my contribution. I won't put up a fight.”

8. EASTERN EUROPE – BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN
Between one party communist regimes are established in
EAST GERMANY
BULGARIA
ROMANIA
POLAND
HUNGARY
CZECHOSLOVAKIA

9. YUGOSLAVIA – THE EXCEPTION IN EASTERN EUROPE
Yugoslavia establishes a communist regime which is relatively independent of the USSR
JOSIP BROZ “TITO” = founder of communist Yugoslavia

10. UPHEAVAL IN E. EUROPE – THE STRUGGLE OF THE CAPTIVE NATIONS
POLAND 1956
a. reform efforts arise after de-stalinization
b. polish leader Gomulka declares Poland will pursue its own path to socialism
c. fearing Soviet intervention Poland agrees to remain loyal to Warsaw Pact
2. HUNGARY 1956
a. Imre Nagy declares Hungarian independence and free elections
b. Soviets invade and crush the Hungarian revolt
3. CZECHOSLOVAKIA 1968
a. Alexander Dubcek becomes new communist leader in 1968
b. Dubcek begins reform program to create “communism with a human face”
c. PRAGUE SPRING = reform period in 1968 under Dubcek
d. aug Soviet tanks invade and crush the Prague Spring

11. REVOLT IN
EASTERN
EUROPE
HUNGARIAN
REVOLT
CRUSHING
THE PRAGUE
SPRING